Prioritization of frames associated with recovery for video streaming session

ABSTRACT

Disclosed are techniques for communication. In an aspect, a communications devices communicates, from an upper communication layer (e.g., application layer) to a lower communication layer (e.g., transport layer), indication(s) to prioritize certain frames (e.g., recovery frames and/or feedback frames) over other frames (e.g., Inter frames) associated with the same QCI bearer for a video streaming session. The lower communication layer may place the prioritized frames ahead of the non-prioritized frames in a lower layer transmission buffer based on the indication. The communications device may transmit one or more packets carrying the first set of frames before one or more packets carrying the second set of frames based on the first set of frames being placed ahead of the second set of frames in the lower layer transmission buffer.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE 1. Field of the Disclosure

Aspects of the disclosure relate generally to wireless communications.

2. Description of the Related Art

Wireless communication systems have developed through variousgenerations, including a first-generation analog wireless phone service(1G), a second-generation (2G) digital wireless phone service (includinginterim 2.5G and 2.75G networks), a third-generation (3G) high speeddata, Internet-capable wireless service and a fourth-generation (4G)service (e.g., Long Term Evolution (LTE) or WiMax). There are presentlymany different types of wireless communication systems in use, includingcellular and personal communications service (PCS) systems. Examples ofknown cellular systems include the cellular analog advanced mobile phonesystem (AMPS), and digital cellular systems based on code divisionmultiple access (CDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), timedivision multiple access (TDMA), the Global System for Mobilecommunications (GSM), etc.

A fifth generation (5G) wireless standard, referred to as New Radio(NR), enables higher data transfer speeds, greater numbers ofconnections, and better coverage, among other improvements. The 5Gstandard, according to the Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance, isdesigned to provide higher data rates as compared to previous standards,more accurate positioning (e.g., based on reference signals forpositioning (RS-P), such as downlink, uplink, or sidelink positioningreference signals (PRS)), and other technical enhancements. Theseenhancements, as well as the use of higher frequency bands, advances inPRS processes and technology, and high-density deployments for 5G,enable highly accurate 5G-based positioning.

SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary relating to one or moreaspects disclosed herein. Thus, the following summary should not beconsidered an extensive overview relating to all contemplated aspects,nor should the following summary be considered to identify key orcritical elements relating to all contemplated aspects or to delineatethe scope associated with any particular aspect. Accordingly, thefollowing summary has the sole purpose to present certain conceptsrelating to one or more aspects relating to the mechanisms disclosedherein in a simplified form to precede the detailed descriptionpresented below.

In an aspect, a method of operating a communications device includescommunicating, from an upper communication layer to a lowercommunication layer, at least one indication that a first set of framesassociated with recovery for a video streaming session is to beprioritized over a second set of frames for the video streaming session,the first set of frames and the second set of frames both associatedwith the same Quality-of-Service Class Identifier (QCI) bearer; placingthe first set of frames ahead of the second set of frames in a lowerlayer transmission buffer based on the indication; and transmitting oneor more packets carrying the first set of frames before one or morepackets carrying the second set of frames based on the first set offrames being placed ahead of the second set of frames in the lower layertransmission buffer.

In an aspect, a communications device includes a memory; at least onetransceiver; and at least one processor communicatively coupled to thememory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processorconfigured to: communicate, via the at least one transceiver, from anupper communication layer to a lower communication layer, at least oneindication that a first set of frames associated with recovery for avideo streaming session is to be prioritized over a second set of framesfor the video streaming session, the first set of frames and the secondset of frames both associated with the same Quality-of-Service ClassIdentifier (QCI) bearer; place the first set of frames ahead of thesecond set of frames in a lower layer transmission buffer based on theindication; and transmit, via the at least one transceiver, one or morepackets carrying the first set of frames before one or more packetscarrying the second set of frames based on the first set of frames beingplaced ahead of the second set of frames in the lower layer transmissionbuffer.

In an aspect, a communications device includes means for communicating,from an upper communication layer to a lower communication layer, atleast one indication that a first set of frames associated with recoveryfor a video streaming session is to be prioritized over a second set offrames for the video streaming session, the first set of frames and thesecond set of frames both associated with the same Quality-of-ServiceClass Identifier (QCI) bearer; means for placing the first set of framesahead of the second set of frames in a lower layer transmission bufferbased on the indication; and means for transmitting one or more packetscarrying the first set of frames before one or more packets carrying thesecond set of frames based on the first set of frames being placed aheadof the second set of frames in the lower layer transmission buffer.

In an aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium storingcomputer-executable instructions that, when executed by a communicationsdevice, cause the communications device to: communicate, from an uppercommunication layer to a lower communication layer, at least oneindication that a first set of frames associated with recovery for avideo streaming session is to be prioritized over a second set of framesfor the video streaming session, the first set of frames and the secondset of frames both associated with the same Quality-of-Service ClassIdentifier (QCI) bearer; place the first set of frames ahead of thesecond set of frames in a lower layer transmission buffer based on theindication; and transmit one or more packets carrying the first set offrames before one or more packets carrying the second set of framesbased on the first set of frames being placed ahead of the second set offrames in the lower layer transmission buffer.

Other objects and advantages associated with the aspects disclosedherein will be apparent to those skilled in the art based on theaccompanying drawings and detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings are presented to aid in the description ofvarious aspects of the disclosure and are provided solely forillustration of the aspects and not limitation thereof.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless communications system, accordingto aspects of the disclosure.

FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate example wireless network structures,according to aspects of the disclosure.

FIGS. 3A, 3B, and 3C are simplified block diagrams of several sampleaspects of components that may be employed in a user equipment (UE), abase station, and a network entity, respectively, and configured tosupport communications as taught herein.

FIG. 4 illustrates a video streaming session architecture in accordancewith aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary process of communications according toaspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 6 illustrates video streaming session architecture in accordancewith an example implementation of the process of FIG. 5 .

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Aspects of the disclosure are provided in the following description andrelated drawings directed to various examples provided for illustrationpurposes. Alternate aspects may be devised without departing from thescope of the disclosure. Additionally, well-known elements of thedisclosure will not be described in detail or will be omitted so as notto obscure the relevant details of the disclosure.

The words “exemplary” and/or “example” are used herein to mean “servingas an example, instance, or illustration.” Any aspect described hereinas “exemplary” and/or “example” is not necessarily to be construed aspreferred or advantageous over other aspects. Likewise, the term“aspects of the disclosure” does not require that all aspects of thedisclosure include the discussed feature, advantage or mode ofoperation.

Those of skill in the art will appreciate that the information andsignals described below may be represented using any of a variety ofdifferent technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions,commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may bereferenced throughout the description below may be represented byvoltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles,optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof, depending inpart on the particular application, in part on the desired design, inpart on the corresponding technology, etc.

Further, many aspects are described in terms of sequences of actions tobe performed by, for example, elements of a computing device. It will berecognized that various actions described herein can be performed byspecific circuits (e.g., application specific integrated circuits(ASICs)), by program instructions being executed by one or moreprocessors, or by a combination of both. Additionally, the sequence(s)of actions described herein can be considered to be embodied entirelywithin any form of non-transitory computer-readable storage mediumhaving stored therein a corresponding set of computer instructions that,upon execution, would cause or instruct an associated processor of adevice to perform the functionality described herein. Thus, the variousaspects of the disclosure may be embodied in a number of differentforms, all of which have been contemplated to be within the scope of theclaimed subject matter. In addition, for each of the aspects describedherein, the corresponding form of any such aspects may be describedherein as, for example, “logic configured to” perform the describedaction.

As used herein, the terms “user equipment” (UE) and “base station” arenot intended to be specific or otherwise limited to any particular radioaccess technology (RAT), unless otherwise noted. In general, a UE may beany wireless communication device (e.g., a mobile phone, router, tabletcomputer, laptop computer, consumer asset locating device, wearable(e.g., smartwatch, glasses, augmented reality (AR)/virtual reality (VR)headset, etc.), vehicle (e.g., automobile, motorcycle, bicycle, etc.),Internet of Things (IoT) device, etc.) used by a user to communicateover a wireless communications network. A UE may be mobile or may (e.g.,at certain times) be stationary, and may communicate with a radio accessnetwork (RAN). As used herein, the term “UE” may be referred tointerchangeably as an “access terminal” or “AT,” a “client device,” a“wireless device,” a “subscriber device,” a “subscriber terminal,” a“subscriber station,” a “user terminal” or “UT,” a “mobile device,” a“mobile terminal,” a “mobile station,” or variations thereof. Generally,UEs can communicate with a core network via a RAN, and through the corenetwork the UEs can be connected with external networks such as theInternet and with other UEs. Of course, other mechanisms of connectingto the core network and/or the Internet are also possible for the UEs,such as over wired access networks, wireless local area network (WLAN)networks (e.g., based on the Institute of Electrical and ElectronicsEngineers (IEEE) 802.11 specification, etc.) and so on.

A base station may operate according to one of several RATs incommunication with UEs depending on the network in which it is deployed,and may be alternatively referred to as an access point (AP), a networknode, a NodeB, an evolved NodeB (eNB), a next generation eNB (ng-eNB), aNew Radio (NR) Node B (also referred to as a gNB or gNodeB), etc. A basestation may be used primarily to support wireless access by UEs,including supporting data, voice, and/or signaling connections for thesupported UEs. In some systems a base station may provide purely edgenode signaling functions while in other systems it may provideadditional control and/or network management functions. A communicationlink through which UEs can send signals to a base station is called anuplink (UL) channel (e.g., a reverse traffic channel, a reverse controlchannel, an access channel, etc.). A communication link through whichthe base station can send signals to UEs is called a downlink (DL) orforward link channel (e.g., a paging channel, a control channel, abroadcast channel, a forward traffic channel, etc.). As used herein theterm traffic channel (TCH) can refer to either an uplink/reverse ordownlink/forward traffic channel.

The term “base station” may refer to a single physicaltransmission-reception point (TRP) or to multiple physical TRPs that mayor may not be co-located. For example, where the term “base station”refers to a single physical TRP, the physical TRP may be an antenna ofthe base station corresponding to a cell (or several cell sectors) ofthe base station. Where the term “base station” refers to multipleco-located physical TRPs, the physical TRPs may be an array of antennas(e.g., as in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system or where thebase station employs beamforming) of the base station. Where the term“base station” refers to multiple non-co-located physical TRPs, thephysical TRPs may be a distributed antenna system (DAS) (a network ofspatially separated antennas connected to a common source via atransport medium) or a remote radio head (RRH) (a remote base stationconnected to a serving base station). Alternatively, the non-co-locatedphysical TRPs may be the serving base station receiving the measurementreport from the UE and a neighbor base station whose reference radiofrequency (RF) signals the UE is measuring. Because a TRP is the pointfrom which a base station transmits and receives wireless signals, asused herein, references to transmission from or reception at a basestation are to be understood as referring to a particular TRP of thebase station.

In some implementations that support positioning of UEs, a base stationmay not support wireless access by UEs (e.g., may not support data,voice, and/or signaling connections for UEs), but may instead transmitreference signals to UEs to be measured by the UEs, and/or may receiveand measure signals transmitted by the UEs. Such a base station may bereferred to as a positioning beacon (e.g., when transmitting signals toUEs) and/or as a location measurement unit (e.g., when receiving andmeasuring signals from UEs).

An “RF signal” comprises an electromagnetic wave of a given frequencythat transports information through the space between a transmitter anda receiver. As used herein, a transmitter may transmit a single “RFsignal” or multiple “RF signals” to a receiver. However, the receivermay receive multiple “RF signals” corresponding to each transmitted RFsignal due to the propagation characteristics of RF signals throughmultipath channels. The same transmitted RF signal on different pathsbetween the transmitter and receiver may be referred to as a “multipath”RF signal. As used herein, an RF signal may also be referred to as a“wireless signal” or simply a “signal” where it is clear from thecontext that the term “signal” refers to a wireless signal or an RFsignal.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless communications system 100,according to aspects of the disclosure. The wireless communicationssystem 100 (which may also be referred to as a wireless wide areanetwork (WWAN)) may include various base stations 102 (labeled “BS”) andvarious UEs 104. The base stations 102 may include macro cell basestations (high power cellular base stations) and/or small cell basestations (low power cellular base stations). In an aspect, the macrocell base stations may include eNBs and/or ng-eNBs where the wirelesscommunications system 100 corresponds to an LTE network, or gNBs wherethe wireless communications system 100 corresponds to a NR network, or acombination of both, and the small cell base stations may includefemtocells, picocells, microcells, etc.

The base stations 102 may collectively form a RAN and interface with acore network 170 (e.g., an evolved packet core (EPC) or a 5G core (5GC))through backhaul links 122, and through the core network 170 to one ormore location servers 172 (e.g., a location management function (LMF) ora secure user plane location (SUPL) location platform (SLP)). Thelocation server(s) 172 may be part of core network 170 or may beexternal to core network 170. A location server 172 may be integratedwith a base station 102. A UE 104 may communicate with a location server172 directly or indirectly. For example, a UE 104 may communicate with alocation server 172 via the base station 102 that is currently servingthat UE 104. A UE 104 may also communicate with a location server 172through another path, such as via an application server (not shown), viaanother network, such as via a wireless local area network (WLAN) accesspoint (AP) (e.g., AP 150 described below), and so on. For signalingpurposes, communication between a UE 104 and a location server 172 maybe represented as an indirect connection (e.g., through the core network170, etc.) or a direct connection (e.g., as shown via direct connection128), with the intervening nodes (if any) omitted from a signalingdiagram for clarity.

In addition to other functions, the base stations 102 may performfunctions that relate to one or more of transferring user data, radiochannel ciphering and deciphering, integrity protection, headercompression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dualconnectivity), inter-cell interference coordination, connection setupand release, load balancing, distribution for non-access stratum (NAS)messages, NAS node selection, synchronization, RAN sharing, multimediabroadcast multicast service (MBMS), subscriber and equipment trace, RANinformation management (RIM), paging, positioning, and delivery ofwarning messages. The base stations 102 may communicate with each otherdirectly or indirectly (e.g., through the EPC/5GC) over backhaul links134, which may be wired or wireless.

The base stations 102 may wirelessly communicate with the UEs 104. Eachof the base stations 102 may provide communication coverage for arespective geographic coverage area 110. In an aspect, one or more cellsmay be supported by a base station 102 in each geographic coverage area110. A “cell” is a logical communication entity used for communicationwith a base station (e.g., over some frequency resource, referred to asa carrier frequency, component carrier, carrier, band, or the like), andmay be associated with an identifier (e.g., a physical cell identifier(PCI), an enhanced cell identifier (ECI), a virtual cell identifier(VCI), a cell global identifier (CGI), etc.) for distinguishing cellsoperating via the same or a different carrier frequency. In some cases,different cells may be configured according to different protocol types(e.g., machine-type communication (MTC), narrowband IoT (NB-IoT),enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), or others) that may provide access fordifferent types of UEs. Because a cell is supported by a specific basestation, the term “cell” may refer to either or both of the logicalcommunication entity and the base station that supports it, depending onthe context. In addition, because a TRP is typically the physicaltransmission point of a cell, the terms “cell” and “TRP” may be usedinterchangeably. In some cases, the term “cell” may also refer to ageographic coverage area of a base station (e.g., a sector), insofar asa carrier frequency can be detected and used for communication withinsome portion of geographic coverage areas 110.

While neighboring macro cell base station 102 geographic coverage areas110 may partially overlap (e.g., in a handover region), some of thegeographic coverage areas 110 may be substantially overlapped by alarger geographic coverage area 110. For example, a small cell basestation 102′ (labeled “SC” for “small cell”) may have a geographiccoverage area 110′ that substantially overlaps with the geographiccoverage area 110 of one or more macro cell base stations 102. A networkthat includes both small cell and macro cell base stations may be knownas a heterogeneous network. A heterogeneous network may also includehome eNBs (HeNBs), which may provide service to a restricted group knownas a closed subscriber group (CSG).

The communication links 120 between the base stations 102 and the UEs104 may include uplink (also referred to as reverse link) transmissionsfrom a UE 104 to a base station 102 and/or downlink (DL) (also referredto as forward link) transmissions from a base station 102 to a UE 104.The communication links 120 may use MIMO antenna technology, includingspatial multiplexing, beamforming, and/or transmit diversity. Thecommunication links 120 may be through one or more carrier frequencies.Allocation of carriers may be asymmetric with respect to downlink anduplink (e.g., more or less carriers may be allocated for downlink thanfor uplink).

The wireless communications system 100 may further include a wirelesslocal area network (WLAN) access point (AP) 150 in communication withWLAN stations (STAs) 152 via communication links 154 in an unlicensedfrequency spectrum (e.g., 5 GHz). When communicating in an unlicensedfrequency spectrum, the WLAN STAs 152 and/or the WLAN AP 150 may performa clear channel assessment (CCA) or listen before talk (LBT) procedureprior to communicating in order to determine whether the channel isavailable.

The small cell base station 102′ may operate in a licensed and/or anunlicensed frequency spectrum. When operating in an unlicensed frequencyspectrum, the small cell base station 102′ may employ LTE or NRtechnology and use the same 5 GHz unlicensed frequency spectrum as usedby the WLAN AP 150. The small cell base station 102′, employing LTE/5Gin an unlicensed frequency spectrum, may boost coverage to and/orincrease capacity of the access network. NR in unlicensed spectrum maybe referred to as NR-U. LTE in an unlicensed spectrum may be referred toas LTE-U, licensed assisted access (LAA), or MulteFire.

The wireless communications system 100 may further include a millimeterwave (mmW) base station 180 that may operate in mmW frequencies and/ornear mmW frequencies in communication with a UE 182. Extremely highfrequency (EHF) is part of the RF in the electromagnetic spectrum. EHFhas a range of 30 GHz to 300 GHz and a wavelength between 1 millimeterand 10 millimeters. Radio waves in this band may be referred to as amillimeter wave. Near mmW may extend down to a frequency of 3 GHz with awavelength of 100 millimeters. The super high frequency (SHF) bandextends between 3 GHz and 30 GHz, also referred to as centimeter wave.Communications using the mmW/near mmW radio frequency band have highpath loss and a relatively short range. The mmW base station 180 and theUE 182 may utilize beamforming (transmit and/or receive) over a mmWcommunication link 184 to compensate for the extremely high path lossand short range. Further, it will be appreciated that in alternativeconfigurations, one or more base stations 102 may also transmit usingmmW or near mmW and beamforming. Accordingly, it will be appreciatedthat the foregoing illustrations are merely examples and should not beconstrued to limit the various aspects disclosed herein.

Transmit beamforming is a technique for focusing an RF signal in aspecific direction. Traditionally, when a network node (e.g., a basestation) broadcasts an RF signal, it broadcasts the signal in alldirections (omni-directionally). With transmit beamforming, the networknode determines where a given target device (e.g., a UE) is located(relative to the transmitting network node) and projects a strongerdownlink RF signal in that specific direction, thereby providing afaster (in terms of data rate) and stronger RF signal for the receivingdevice(s). To change the directionality of the RF signal whentransmitting, a network node can control the phase and relativeamplitude of the RF signal at each of the one or more transmitters thatare broadcasting the RF signal. For example, a network node may use anarray of antennas (referred to as a “phased array” or an “antennaarray”) that creates a beam of RF waves that can be “steered” to pointin different directions, without actually moving the antennas.Specifically, the RF current from the transmitter is fed to theindividual antennas with the correct phase relationship so that theradio waves from the separate antennas add together to increase theradiation in a desired direction, while cancelling to suppress radiationin undesired directions.

Transmit beams may be quasi-co-located, meaning that they appear to thereceiver (e.g., a UE) as having the same parameters, regardless ofwhether or not the transmitting antennas of the network node themselvesare physically co-located. In NR, there are four types ofquasi-co-location (QCL) relations. Specifically, a QCL relation of agiven type means that certain parameters about a second reference RFsignal on a second beam can be derived from information about a sourcereference RF signal on a source beam. Thus, if the source reference RFsignal is QCL Type A, the receiver can use the source reference RFsignal to estimate the Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, anddelay spread of a second reference RF signal transmitted on the samechannel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL Type B, the receivercan use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift andDoppler spread of a second reference RF signal transmitted on the samechannel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL Type C, the receivercan use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift andaverage delay of a second reference RF signal transmitted on the samechannel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL Type D, the receivercan use the source reference RF signal to estimate the spatial receiveparameter of a second reference RF signal transmitted on the samechannel.

In receive beamforming, the receiver uses a receive beam to amplify RFsignals detected on a given channel. For example, the receiver canincrease the gain setting and/or adjust the phase setting of an array ofantennas in a particular direction to amplify (e.g., to increase thegain level of) the RF signals received from that direction. Thus, when areceiver is said to beamform in a certain direction, it means the beamgain in that direction is high relative to the beam gain along otherdirections, or the beam gain in that direction is the highest comparedto the beam gain in that direction of all other receive beams availableto the receiver. This results in a stronger received signal strength(e.g., reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal receivedquality (RSRQ), signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR), etc.) ofthe RF signals received from that direction.

Transmit and receive beams may be spatially related. A spatial relationmeans that parameters for a second beam (e.g., a transmit or receivebeam) for a second reference signal can be derived from informationabout a first beam (e.g., a receive beam or a transmit beam) for a firstreference signal. For example, a UE may use a particular receive beam toreceive a reference downlink reference signal (e.g., synchronizationsignal block (SSB)) from a base station. The UE can then form a transmitbeam for sending an uplink reference signal (e.g., sounding referencesignal (SRS)) to that base station based on the parameters of thereceive beam.

Note that a “downlink” beam may be either a transmit beam or a receivebeam, depending on the entity forming it. For example, if a base stationis forming the downlink beam to transmit a reference signal to a UE, thedownlink beam is a transmit beam. If the UE is forming the downlinkbeam, however, it is a receive beam to receive the downlink referencesignal. Similarly, an “uplink” beam may be either a transmit beam or areceive beam, depending on the entity forming it. For example, if a basestation is forming the uplink beam, it is an uplink receive beam, and ifa UE is forming the uplink beam, it is an uplink transmit beam.

The electromagnetic spectrum is often subdivided, based onfrequency/wavelength, into various classes, bands, channels, etc. In 5GNR two initial operating bands have been identified as frequency rangedesignations FR1 (410 MHz-7.125 GHz) and FR2 (24.25 GHz-52.6 GHz). Itshould be understood that although a portion of FR1 is greater than 6GHz, FR1 is often referred to (interchangeably) as a “Sub-6 GHz” band invarious documents and articles. A similar nomenclature issue sometimesoccurs with regard to FR2, which is often referred to (interchangeably)as a “millimeter wave” band in documents and articles, despite beingdifferent from the extremely high frequency (EHF) band (30 GHz-300 GHz)which is identified by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU)as a “millimeter wave” band.

The frequencies between FR1 and FR2 are often referred to as mid-bandfrequencies. Recent 5G NR studies have identified an operating band forthese mid-band frequencies as frequency range designation FR3 (7.125GHz-24.25 GHz). Frequency bands falling within FR3 may inherit FR1characteristics and/or FR2 characteristics, and thus may effectivelyextend features of FR1 and/or FR2 into mid-band frequencies. Inaddition, higher frequency bands are currently being explored to extend5G NR operation beyond 52.6 GHz. For example, three higher operatingbands have been identified as frequency range designations FR4a or FR4-1(52.6 GHz-71 GHz), FR4 (52.6 GHz-114.25 GHz), and FR5 (114.25 GHz-300GHz). Each of these higher frequency bands falls within the EHF band.

With the above aspects in mind, unless specifically stated otherwise, itshould be understood that the term “sub-6 GHz” or the like if usedherein may broadly represent frequencies that may be less than 6 GHz,may be within FR1, or may include mid-band frequencies. Further, unlessspecifically stated otherwise, it should be understood that the term“millimeter wave” or the like if used herein may broadly representfrequencies that may include mid-band frequencies, may be within FR2,FR4, FR4-a or FR4-1, and/or FR5, or may be within the EHF band.

In a multi-carrier system, such as 5G, one of the carrier frequencies isreferred to as the “primary carrier” or “anchor carrier” or “primaryserving cell” or “PCell,” and the remaining carrier frequencies arereferred to as “secondary carriers” or “secondary serving cells” or“SCells.” In carrier aggregation, the anchor carrier is the carrieroperating on the primary frequency (e.g., FR1) utilized by a UE 104/182and the cell in which the UE 104/182 either performs the initial radioresource control (RRC) connection establishment procedure or initiatesthe RRC connection re-establishment procedure. The primary carriercarries all common and UE-specific control channels, and may be acarrier in a licensed frequency (however, this is not always the case).A secondary carrier is a carrier operating on a second frequency (e.g.,FR2) that may be configured once the RRC connection is establishedbetween the UE 104 and the anchor carrier and that may be used toprovide additional radio resources. In some cases, the secondary carriermay be a carrier in an unlicensed frequency. The secondary carrier maycontain only necessary signaling information and signals, for example,those that are UE-specific may not be present in the secondary carrier,since both primary uplink and downlink carriers are typicallyUE-specific. This means that different UEs 104/182 in a cell may havedifferent downlink primary carriers. The same is true for the uplinkprimary carriers. The network is able to change the primary carrier ofany UE 104/182 at any time. This is done, for example, to balance theload on different carriers. Because a “serving cell” (whether a PCell oran SCell) corresponds to a carrier frequency/component carrier overwhich some base station is communicating, the term “cell,” “servingcell,” “component carrier,” “carrier frequency,” and the like can beused interchangeably.

For example, still referring to FIG. 1 , one of the frequencies utilizedby the macro cell base stations 102 may be an anchor carrier (or“PCell”) and other frequencies utilized by the macro cell base stations102 and/or the mmW base station 180 may be secondary carriers(“SCells”). The simultaneous transmission and/or reception of multiplecarriers enables the UE 104/182 to significantly increase its datatransmission and/or reception rates. For example, two 20 MHz aggregatedcarriers in a multi-carrier system would theoretically lead to atwo-fold increase in data rate (i.e., 40 MHz), compared to that attainedby a single 20 MHz carrier.

The wireless communications system 100 may further include a UE 164 thatmay communicate with a macro cell base station 102 over a communicationlink 120 and/or the mmW base station 180 over a mmW communication link184. For example, the macro cell base station 102 may support a PCelland one or more SCells for the UE 164 and the mmW base station 180 maysupport one or more SCells for the UE 164.

In some cases, the UE 164 and the UE 182 may be capable of sidelinkcommunication. Sidelink-capable UEs (SL-UEs) may communicate with basestations 102 over communication links 120 using the Uu interface (i.e.,the air interface between a UE and a base station). SL-UEs (e.g., UE164, UE 182) may also communicate directly with each other over awireless sidelink 160 using the PC5 interface (i.e., the air interfacebetween sidelink-capable UEs). A wireless sidelink (or just “sidelink”)is an adaptation of the core cellular (e.g., LTE, NR) standard thatallows direct communication between two or more UEs without thecommunication needing to go through a base station. Sidelinkcommunication may be unicast or multicast, and may be used fordevice-to-device (D2D) media-sharing, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V)communication, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication (e.g., cellularV2X (cV2X) communication, enhanced V2X (eV2X) communication, etc.),emergency rescue applications, etc. One or more of a group of SL-UEsutilizing sidelink communications may be within the geographic coveragearea 110 of a base station 102. Other SL-UEs in such a group may beoutside the geographic coverage area 110 of a base station 102 or beotherwise unable to receive transmissions from a base station 102. Insome cases, groups of SL-UEs communicating via sidelink communicationsmay utilize a one-to-many (1:M) system in which each SL-UE transmits toevery other SL-UE in the group. In some cases, a base station 102facilitates the scheduling of resources for sidelink communications. Inother cases, sidelink communications are carried out between SL-UEswithout the involvement of a base station 102.

In an aspect, the sidelink 160 may operate over a wireless communicationmedium of interest, which may be shared with other wirelesscommunications between other vehicles and/or infrastructure accesspoints, as well as other RATs. A “medium” may be composed of one or moretime, frequency, and/or space communication resources (e.g.,encompassing one or more channels across one or more carriers)associated with wireless communication between one or moretransmitter/receiver pairs. In an aspect, the medium of interest maycorrespond to at least a portion of an unlicensed frequency band sharedamong various RATs. Although different licensed frequency bands havebeen reserved for certain communication systems (e.g., by a governmententity such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the UnitedStates), these systems, in particular those employing small cell accesspoints, have recently extended operation into unlicensed frequency bandssuch as the Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (U-MI) bandused by wireless local area network (WLAN) technologies, most notablyIEEE 802.11x WLAN technologies generally referred to as “Wi-Fi.” Examplesystems of this type include different variants of CDMA systems, TDMAsystems, FDMA systems, orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) systems, single-carrierFDMA (SC-FDMA) systems, and so on.

Note that although FIG. 1 only illustrates two of the UEs as SL-UEs(i.e., UEs 164 and 182), any of the illustrated UEs may be SL-UEs.Further, although only UE 182 was described as being capable ofbeamforming, any of the illustrated UEs, including UE 164, may becapable of beamforming. Where SL-UEs are capable of beamforming, theymay beamform towards each other (i.e., towards other SL-UEs), towardsother UEs (e.g., UEs 104), towards base stations (e.g., base stations102, 180, small cell 102′, access point 150), etc. Thus, in some cases,UEs 164 and 182 may utilize beamforming over sidelink 160.

In the example of FIG. 1 , any of the illustrated UEs (shown in FIG. 1as a single UE 104 for simplicity) may receive signals 124 from one ormore Earth orbiting space vehicles (SVs) 112 (e.g., satellites). In anaspect, the SVs 112 may be part of a satellite positioning system that aUE 104 can use as an independent source of location information. Asatellite positioning system typically includes a system of transmitters(e.g., SVs 112) positioned to enable receivers (e.g., UEs 104) todetermine their location on or above the Earth based, at least in part,on positioning signals (e.g., signals 124) received from thetransmitters. Such a transmitter typically transmits a signal markedwith a repeating pseudo-random noise (PN) code of a set number of chips.While typically located in SVs 112, transmitters may sometimes belocated on ground-based control stations, base stations 102, and/orother UEs 104. A UE 104 may include one or more dedicated receiversspecifically designed to receive signals 124 for deriving geo locationinformation from the SVs 112.

In a satellite positioning system, the use of signals 124 can beaugmented by various satellite-based augmentation systems (SBAS) thatmay be associated with or otherwise enabled for use with one or moreglobal and/or regional navigation satellite systems. For example an SBASmay include an augmentation system(s) that provides integrityinformation, differential corrections, etc., such as the Wide AreaAugmentation System (WAAS), the European Geostationary NavigationOverlay Service (EGNOS), the Multi-functional Satellite AugmentationSystem (MSAS), the Global Positioning System (GPS) Aided Geo AugmentedNavigation or GPS and Geo Augmented Navigation system (GAGAN), and/orthe like. Thus, as used herein, a satellite positioning system mayinclude any combination of one or more global and/or regional navigationsatellites associated with such one or more satellite positioningsystems.

In an aspect, SVs 112 may additionally or alternatively be part of oneor more non-terrestrial networks (NTNs). In an NTN, an SV 112 isconnected to an earth station (also referred to as a ground station, NTNgateway, or gateway), which in turn is connected to an element in a 5Gnetwork, such as a modified base station 102 (without a terrestrialantenna) or a network node in a 5GC. This element would in turn provideaccess to other elements in the 5G network and ultimately to entitiesexternal to the 5G network, such as Internet web servers and other userdevices. In that way, a UE 104 may receive communication signals (e.g.,signals 124) from an SV 112 instead of, or in addition to, communicationsignals from a terrestrial base station 102.

The wireless communications system 100 may further include one or moreUEs, such as UE 190, that connects indirectly to one or morecommunication networks via one or more device-to-device (D2D)peer-to-peer (P2P) links (referred to as “sidelinks”). In the example ofFIG. 1 , UE 190 has a D2D P2P link 192 with one of the UEs 104 connectedto one of the base stations 102 (e.g., through which UE 190 mayindirectly obtain cellular connectivity) and a D2D P2P link 194 withWLAN STA 152 connected to the WLAN AP 150 (through which UE 190 mayindirectly obtain WLAN-based Internet connectivity). In an example, theD2D P2P links 192 and 194 may be supported with any well-known D2D RAT,such as LTE Direct (LTE-D), WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Bluetooth®, and so on.

FIG. 2A illustrates an example wireless network structure 200. Forexample, a 5GC 210 (also referred to as a Next Generation Core (NGC))can be viewed functionally as control plane (C-plane) functions 214(e.g., UE registration, authentication, network access, gatewayselection, etc.) and user plane (U-plane) functions 212, (e.g., UEgateway function, access to data networks, IP routing, etc.) whichoperate cooperatively to form the core network. User plane interface(NG-U) 213 and control plane interface (NG-C) 215 connect the gNB 222 tothe 5GC 210 and specifically to the user plane functions 212 and controlplane functions 214, respectively. In an additional configuration, anng-eNB 224 may also be connected to the 5GC 210 via NG-C 215 to thecontrol plane functions 214 and NG-U 213 to user plane functions 212.Further, ng-eNB 224 may directly communicate with gNB 222 via a backhaulconnection 223. In some configurations, a Next Generation RAN (NG-RAN)220 may have one or more gNBs 222, while other configurations includeone or more of both ng-eNBs 224 and gNBs 222. Either (or both) gNB 222or ng-eNB 224 may communicate with one or more UEs 204 (e.g., any of theUEs described herein).

Another optional aspect may include a location server 230, which may bein communication with the 5GC 210 to provide location assistance forUE(s) 204. The location server 230 can be implemented as a plurality ofseparate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different softwaremodules on a single server, different software modules spread acrossmultiple physical servers, etc.), or alternately may each correspond toa single server. The location server 230 can be configured to supportone or more location services for UEs 204 that can connect to thelocation server 230 via the core network, 5GC 210, and/or via theInternet (not illustrated). Further, the location server 230 may beintegrated into a component of the core network, or alternatively may beexternal to the core network (e.g., a third party server, such as anoriginal equipment manufacturer (OEM) server or service server).

FIG. 2B illustrates another example wireless network structure 250. A5GC 260 (which may correspond to 5GC 210 in FIG. 2A) can be viewedfunctionally as control plane functions, provided by an access andmobility management function (AMF) 264, and user plane functions,provided by a user plane function (UPF) 262, which operate cooperativelyto form the core network (i.e., 5GC 260). The functions of the AMF 264include registration management, connection management, reachabilitymanagement, mobility management, lawful interception, transport forsession management (SM) messages between one or more UEs 204 (e.g., anyof the UEs described herein) and a session management function (SMF)266, transparent proxy services for routing SM messages, accessauthentication and access authorization, transport for short messageservice (SMS) messages between the UE 204 and the short message servicefunction (SMSF) (not shown), and security anchor functionality (SEAF).The AMF 264 also interacts with an authentication server function (AUSF)(not shown) and the UE 204, and receives the intermediate key that wasestablished as a result of the UE 204 authentication process. In thecase of authentication based on a UMTS (universal mobiletelecommunications system) subscriber identity module (USIM), the AMF264 retrieves the security material from the AUSF. The functions of theAMF 264 also include security context management (SCM). The SCM receivesa key from the SEAF that it uses to derive access-network specific keys.The functionality of the AMF 264 also includes location servicesmanagement for regulatory services, transport for location servicesmessages between the UE 204 and a location management function (LMF) 270(which acts as a location server 230), transport for location servicesmessages between the NG-RAN 220 and the LMF 270, evolved packet system(EPS) bearer identifier allocation for interworking with the EPS, and UE204 mobility event notification. In addition, the AMF 264 also supportsfunctionalities for non-3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project)access networks.

Functions of the UPF 262 include acting as an anchor point forintra-/inter-RAT mobility (when applicable), acting as an externalprotocol data unit (PDU) session point of interconnect to a data network(not shown), providing packet routing and forwarding, packet inspection,user plane policy rule enforcement (e.g., gating, redirection, trafficsteering), lawful interception (user plane collection), traffic usagereporting, quality of service (QoS) handling for the user plane (e.g.,uplink/downlink rate enforcement, reflective QoS marking in thedownlink), uplink traffic verification (service data flow (SDF) to QoSflow mapping), transport level packet marking in the uplink anddownlink, downlink packet buffering and downlink data notificationtriggering, and sending and forwarding of one or more “end markers” tothe source RAN node. The UPF 262 may also support transfer of locationservices messages over a user plane between the UE 204 and a locationserver, such as an SLP 272.

The functions of the SMF 266 include session management, UE Internetprotocol (IP) address allocation and management, selection and controlof user plane functions, configuration of traffic steering at the UPF262 to route traffic to the proper destination, control of part ofpolicy enforcement and QoS, and downlink data notification. Theinterface over which the SMF 266 communicates with the AMF 264 isreferred to as the N11 interface.

Another optional aspect may include an LMF 270, which may be incommunication with the 5GC 260 to provide location assistance for UEs204. The LMF 270 can be implemented as a plurality of separate servers(e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on asingle server, different software modules spread across multiplephysical servers, etc.), or alternately may each correspond to a singleserver. The LMF 270 can be configured to support one or more locationservices for UEs 204 that can connect to the LMF 270 via the corenetwork, 5GC 260, and/or via the Internet (not illustrated). The SLP 272may support similar functions to the LMF 270, but whereas the LMF 270may communicate with the AMF 264, NG-RAN 220, and UEs 204 over a controlplane (e.g., using interfaces and protocols intended to convey signalingmessages and not voice or data), the SLP 272 may communicate with UEs204 and external clients (e.g., third-party server 274) over a userplane (e.g., using protocols intended to carry voice and/or data likethe transmission control protocol (TCP) and/or IP).

Yet another optional aspect may include a third-party server 274, whichmay be in communication with the LMF 270, the SLP 272, the 5GC 260(e.g., via the AMF 264 and/or the UPF 262), the NG-RAN 220, and/or theUE 204 to obtain location information (e.g., a location estimate) forthe UE 204. As such, in some cases, the third-party server 274 may bereferred to as a location services (LCS) client or an external client.The third-party server 274 can be implemented as a plurality of separateservers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software moduleson a single server, different software modules spread across multiplephysical servers, etc.), or alternately may each correspond to a singleserver.

User plane interface 263 and control plane interface 265 connect the 5GC260, and specifically the UPF 262 and AMF 264, respectively, to one ormore gNBs 222 and/or ng-eNBs 224 in the NG-RAN 220. The interfacebetween gNB(s) 222 and/or ng-eNB(s) 224 and the AMF 264 is referred toas the “N2” interface, and the interface between gNB(s) 222 and/orng-eNB(s) 224 and the UPF 262 is referred to as the “N3” interface. ThegNB(s) 222 and/or ng-eNB(s) 224 of the NG-RAN 220 may communicatedirectly with each other via backhaul connections 223, referred to asthe “Xn-C” interface. One or more of gNBs 222 and/or ng-eNBs 224 maycommunicate with one or more UEs 204 over a wireless interface, referredto as the “Uu” interface.

The functionality of a gNB 222 may be divided between a gNB central unit(gNB-CU) 226, one or more gNB distributed units (gNB-DUs) 228, and oneor more gNB radio units (gNB-RUs) 229. A gNB-CU 226 is a logical nodethat includes the base station functions of transferring user data,mobility control, radio access network sharing, positioning, sessionmanagement, and the like, except for those functions allocatedexclusively to the gNB-DU(s) 228. More specifically, the gNB-CU 226generally host the radio resource control (RRC), service data adaptationprotocol (SDAP), and packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) protocolsof the gNB 222. A gNB-DU 228 is a logical node that generally hosts theradio link control (RLC) and medium access control (MAC) layer of thegNB 222. Its operation is controlled by the gNB-CU 226. One gNB-DU 228can support one or more cells, and one cell is supported by only onegNB-DU 228. The interface 232 between the gNB-CU 226 and the one or moregNB-DUs 228 is referred to as the “F1” interface. The physical (PHY)layer functionality of a gNB 222 is generally hosted by one or morestandalone gNB-RUs 229 that perform functions such as poweramplification and signal transmission/reception. The interface between agNB-DU 228 and a gNB-RU 229 is referred to as the “Fx” interface. Thus,a UE 204 communicates with the gNB-CU 226 via the RRC, SDAP, and PDCPlayers, with a gNB-DU 228 via the RLC and MAC layers, and with a gNB-RU229 via the PHY layer.

FIGS. 3A, 3B, and 3C illustrate several example components (representedby corresponding blocks) that may be incorporated into a UE 302 (whichmay correspond to any of the UEs described herein), a base station 304(which may correspond to any of the base stations described herein), anda network entity 306 (which may correspond to or embody any of thenetwork functions described herein, including the location server 230and the LMF 270, or alternatively may be independent from the NG-RAN 220and/or 5GC 210/260 infrastructure depicted in FIGS. 2A and 2B, such as aprivate network) to support the file transmission operations as taughtherein. It will be appreciated that these components may be implementedin different types of apparatuses in different implementations (e.g., inan ASIC, in a system-on-chip (SoC), etc.). The illustrated componentsmay also be incorporated into other apparatuses in a communicationsystem. For example, other apparatuses in a system may includecomponents similar to those described to provide similar functionality.Also, a given apparatus may contain one or more of the components. Forexample, an apparatus may include multiple transceiver components thatenable the apparatus to operate on multiple carriers and/or communicatevia different technologies.

The UE 302 and the base station 304 each include one or more wirelesswide area network (WWAN) transceivers 310 and 350, respectively,providing means for communicating (e.g., means for transmitting, meansfor receiving, means for measuring, means for tuning, means forrefraining from transmitting, etc.) via one or more wirelesscommunication networks (not shown), such as an NR network, an LTEnetwork, a GSM network, and/or the like. The WWAN transceivers 310 and350 may each be connected to one or more antennas 316 and 356,respectively, for communicating with other network nodes, such as otherUEs, access points, base stations (e.g., eNBs, gNBs), etc., via at leastone designated RAT (e.g., NR, LTE, GSM, etc.) over a wirelesscommunication medium of interest (e.g., some set of time/frequencyresources in a particular frequency spectrum). The WWAN transceivers 310and 350 may be variously configured for transmitting and encodingsignals 318 and 358 (e.g., messages, indications, information, and soon), respectively, and, conversely, for receiving and decoding signals318 and 358 (e.g., messages, indications, information, pilots, and soon), respectively, in accordance with the designated RAT. Specifically,the WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 include one or more transmitters 314and 354, respectively, for transmitting and encoding signals 318 and358, respectively, and one or more receivers 312 and 352, respectively,for receiving and decoding signals 318 and 358, respectively.

The UE 302 and the base station 304 each also include, at least in somecases, one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360,respectively. The short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 may beconnected to one or more antennas 326 and 366, respectively, and providemeans for communicating (e.g., means for transmitting, means forreceiving, means for measuring, means for tuning, means for refrainingfrom transmitting, etc.) with other network nodes, such as other UEs,access points, base stations, etc., via at least one designated RAT(e.g., WiFi, LTE-D, Bluetooth®, Zigbee®, Z-Wave®, PCS, dedicatedshort-range communications (DSRC), wireless access for vehicularenvironments (WAVE), near-field communication (NFC), etc.) over awireless communication medium of interest. The short-range wirelesstransceivers 320 and 360 may be variously configured for transmittingand encoding signals 328 and 368 (e.g., messages, indications,information, and so on), respectively, and, conversely, for receivingand decoding signals 328 and 368 (e.g., messages, indications,information, pilots, and so on), respectively, in accordance with thedesignated RAT. Specifically, the short-range wireless transceivers 320and 360 include one or more transmitters 324 and 364, respectively, fortransmitting and encoding signals 328 and 368, respectively, and one ormore receivers 322 and 362, respectively, for receiving and decodingsignals 328 and 368, respectively. As specific examples, the short-rangewireless transceivers 320 and 360 may be WiFi transceivers, Bluetooth®transceivers, Zigbee® and/or Z-Wave® transceivers, NFC transceivers, orvehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and/or vehicle-to-everything (V2X)transceivers.

The UE 302 and the base station 304 also include, at least in somecases, satellite signal receivers 330 and 370. The satellite signalreceivers 330 and 370 may be connected to one or more antennas 336 and376, respectively, and may provide means for receiving and/or measuringsatellite positioning/communication signals 338 and 378, respectively.Where the satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 are satellitepositioning system receivers, the satellite positioning/communicationsignals 338 and 378 may be global positioning system (GPS) signals,global navigation satellite system (GLONASS) signals, Galileo signals,Beidou signals, Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (NAVIC),Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), etc. Where the satellite signalreceivers 330 and 370 are non-terrestrial network (NTN) receivers, thesatellite positioning/communication signals 338 and 378 may becommunication signals (e.g., carrying control and/or user data)originating from a 5G network. The satellite signal receivers 330 and370 may comprise any suitable hardware and/or software for receiving andprocessing satellite positioning/communication signals 338 and 378,respectively. The satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 may requestinformation and operations as appropriate from the other systems, and,at least in some cases, perform calculations to determine locations ofthe UE 302 and the base station 304, respectively, using measurementsobtained by any suitable satellite positioning system algorithm.

The base station 304 and the network entity 306 each include one or morenetwork transceivers 380 and 390, respectively, providing means forcommunicating (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, etc.)with other network entities (e.g., other base stations 304, othernetwork entities 306). For example, the base station 304 may employ theone or more network transceivers 380 to communicate with other basestations 304 or network entities 306 over one or more wired or wirelessbackhaul links. As another example, the network entity 306 may employthe one or more network transceivers 390 to communicate with one or morebase station 304 over one or more wired or wireless backhaul links, orwith other network entities 306 over one or more wired or wireless corenetwork interfaces.

A transceiver may be configured to communicate over a wired or wirelesslink. A transceiver (whether a wired transceiver or a wirelesstransceiver) includes transmitter circuitry (e.g., transmitters 314,324, 354, 364) and receiver circuitry (e.g., receivers 312, 322, 352,362). A transceiver may be an integrated device (e.g., embodyingtransmitter circuitry and receiver circuitry in a single device) in someimplementations, may comprise separate transmitter circuitry andseparate receiver circuitry in some implementations, or may be embodiedin other ways in other implementations. The transmitter circuitry andreceiver circuitry of a wired transceiver (e.g., network transceivers380 and 390 in some implementations) may be coupled to one or more wirednetwork interface ports. Wireless transmitter circuitry (e.g.,transmitters 314, 324, 354, 364) may include or be coupled to aplurality of antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), such as anantenna array, that permits the respective apparatus (e.g., UE 302, basestation 304) to perform transmit “beamforming,” as described herein.Similarly, wireless receiver circuitry (e.g., receivers 312, 322, 352,362) may include or be coupled to a plurality of antennas (e.g.,antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), such as an antenna array, that permits therespective apparatus (e.g., UE 302, base station 304) to perform receivebeamforming, as described herein. In an aspect, the transmittercircuitry and receiver circuitry may share the same plurality ofantennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), such that the respectiveapparatus can only receive or transmit at a given time, not both at thesame time. A wireless transceiver (e.g., WWAN transceivers 310 and 350,short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360) may also include anetwork listen module (NLM) or the like for performing variousmeasurements.

As used herein, the various wireless transceivers (e.g., transceivers310, 320, 350, and 360, and network transceivers 380 and 390 in someimplementations) and wired transceivers (e.g., network transceivers 380and 390 in some implementations) may generally be characterized as “atransceiver,” “at least one transceiver,” or “one or more transceivers.”As such, whether a particular transceiver is a wired or wirelesstransceiver may be inferred from the type of communication performed.For example, backhaul communication between network devices or serverswill generally relate to signaling via a wired transceiver, whereaswireless communication between a UE (e.g., UE 302) and a base station(e.g., base station 304) will generally relate to signaling via awireless transceiver.

The UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306 alsoinclude other components that may be used in conjunction with theoperations as disclosed herein. The UE 302, the base station 304, andthe network entity 306 include one or more processors 332, 384, and 394,respectively, for providing functionality relating to, for example,wireless communication, and for providing other processingfunctionality. The processors 332, 384, and 394 may therefore providemeans for processing, such as means for determining, means forcalculating, means for receiving, means for transmitting, means forindicating, etc. In an aspect, the processors 332, 384, and 394 mayinclude, for example, one or more general purpose processors, multi-coreprocessors, central processing units (CPUs), ASICs, digital signalprocessors (DSPs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), otherprogrammable logic devices or processing circuitry, or variouscombinations thereof.

The UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306 includememory circuitry implementing memories 340, 386, and 396 (e.g., eachincluding a memory device), respectively, for maintaining information(e.g., information indicative of reserved resources, thresholds,parameters, and so on). The memories 340, 386, and 396 may thereforeprovide means for storing, means for retrieving, means for maintaining,etc. In some cases, the UE 302, the base station 304, and the networkentity 306 may include video streaming component 342, 388, and 398,respectively. The video streaming component 342, 388, and 398 may behardware circuits that are part of or coupled to the processors 332,384, and 394, respectively, that, when executed, cause the UE 302, thebase station 304, and the network entity 306 to perform thefunctionality described herein. In other aspects, the video streamingcomponent 342, 388, and 398 may be external to the processors 332, 384,and 394 (e.g., part of a modem processing system, integrated withanother processing system, etc.). Alternatively, the video streamingcomponent 342, 388, and 398 may be memory modules stored in the memories340, 386, and 396, respectively, that, when executed by the processors332, 384, and 394 (or a modem processing system, another processingsystem, etc.), cause the UE 302, the base station 304, and the networkentity 306 to perform the functionality described herein. FIG. 3Aillustrates possible locations of the video streaming component 342,which may be, for example, part of the one or more WWAN transceivers310, the memory 340, the one or more processors 332, or any combinationthereof, or may be a standalone component. FIG. 3B illustrates possiblelocations of the video streaming component 388, which may be, forexample, part of the one or more WWAN transceivers 350, the memory 386,the one or more processors 384, or any combination thereof, or may be astandalone component. FIG. 3C illustrates possible locations of thevideo streaming component 398, which may be, for example, part of theone or more network transceivers 390, the memory 396, the one or moreprocessors 394, or any combination thereof, or may be a standalonecomponent.

The UE 302 may include one or more sensors 344 coupled to the one ormore processors 332 to provide means for sensing or detecting movementand/or orientation information that is independent of motion dataderived from signals received by the one or more WWAN transceivers 310,the one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320, and/or thesatellite signal receiver 330. By way of example, the sensor(s) 344 mayinclude an accelerometer (e.g., a micro-electrical mechanical systems(MEMS) device), a gyroscope, a geomagnetic sensor (e.g., a compass), analtimeter (e.g., a barometric pressure altimeter), and/or any other typeof movement detection sensor. Moreover, the sensor(s) 344 may include aplurality of different types of devices and combine their outputs inorder to provide motion information. For example, the sensor(s) 344 mayuse a combination of a multi-axis accelerometer and orientation sensorsto provide the ability to compute positions in two-dimensional (2D)and/or three-dimensional (3D) coordinate systems.

In addition, the UE 302 includes a user interface 346 providing meansfor providing indications (e.g., audible and/or visual indications) to auser and/or for receiving user input (e.g., upon user actuation of asensing device such a keypad, a touch screen, a microphone, and so on).Although not shown, the base station 304 and the network entity 306 mayalso include user interfaces.

Referring to the one or more processors 384 in more detail, in thedownlink, IP packets from the network entity 306 may be provided to theprocessor 384. The one or more processors 384 may implementfunctionality for an RRC layer, a packet data convergence protocol(PDCP) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, and a medium accesscontrol (MAC) layer. The one or more processors 384 may provide RRClayer functionality associated with broadcasting of system information(e.g., master information block (MIB), system information blocks(SIBs)), RRC connection control (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRCconnection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRCconnection release), inter-RAT mobility, and measurement configurationfor UE measurement reporting; PDCP layer functionality associated withheader compression/decompression, security (ciphering, deciphering,integrity protection, integrity verification), and handover supportfunctions; RLC layer functionality associated with the transfer of upperlayer PDUs, error correction through automatic repeat request (ARQ),concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC service data units(SDUs), re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC dataPDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping betweenlogical channels and transport channels, scheduling informationreporting, error correction, priority handling, and logical channelprioritization.

The transmitter 354 and the receiver 352 may implement Layer-1 (L1)functionality associated with various signal processing functions.Layer-1, which includes a physical (PHY) layer, may include errordetection on the transport channels, forward error correction (FEC)coding/decoding of the transport channels, interleaving, rate matching,mapping onto physical channels, modulation/demodulation of physicalchannels, and MIMO antenna processing. The transmitter 354 handlesmapping to signal constellations based on various modulation schemes(e.g., binary phase-shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase-shift keying(QPSK), M-phase-shift keying (M-PSK), M-quadrature amplitude modulation(M-QAM)). The coded and modulated symbols may then be split intoparallel streams. Each stream may then be mapped to an orthogonalfrequency division multiplexing (OFDM) subcarrier, multiplexed with areference signal (e.g., pilot) in the time and/or frequency domain, andthen combined together using an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) toproduce a physical channel carrying a time domain OFDM symbol stream.The OFDM symbol stream is spatially precoded to produce multiple spatialstreams. Channel estimates from a channel estimator may be used todetermine the coding and modulation scheme, as well as for spatialprocessing. The channel estimate may be derived from a reference signaland/or channel condition feedback transmitted by the UE 302. Eachspatial stream may then be provided to one or more different antennas356. The transmitter 354 may modulate an RF carrier with a respectivespatial stream for transmission.

At the UE 302, the receiver 312 receives a signal through its respectiveantenna(s) 316. The receiver 312 recovers information modulated onto anRF carrier and provides the information to the one or more processors332. The transmitter 314 and the receiver 312 implement Layer-1functionality associated with various signal processing functions. Thereceiver 312 may perform spatial processing on the information torecover any spatial streams destined for the UE 302. If multiple spatialstreams are destined for the UE 302, they may be combined by thereceiver 312 into a single OFDM symbol stream. The receiver 312 thenconverts the OFDM symbol stream from the time-domain to the frequencydomain using a fast Fourier transform (FFT). The frequency domain signalcomprises a separate OFDM symbol stream for each subcarrier of the OFDMsignal. The symbols on each subcarrier, and the reference signal, arerecovered and demodulated by determining the most likely signalconstellation points transmitted by the base station 304. These softdecisions may be based on channel estimates computed by a channelestimator. The soft decisions are then decoded and de-interleaved torecover the data and control signals that were originally transmitted bythe base station 304 on the physical channel. The data and controlsignals are then provided to the one or more processors 332, whichimplements Layer-3 (L3) and Layer-2 (L2) functionality.

In the uplink, the one or more processors 332 provides demultiplexingbetween transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, deciphering,header decompression, and control signal processing to recover IPpackets from the core network. The one or more processors 332 are alsoresponsible for error detection.

Similar to the functionality described in connection with the downlinktransmission by the base station 304, the one or more processors 332provides RRC layer functionality associated with system information(e.g., MIB, SIBs) acquisition, RRC connections, and measurementreporting; PDCP layer functionality associated with headercompression/decompression, and security (ciphering, deciphering,integrity protection, integrity verification); RLC layer functionalityassociated with the transfer of upper layer PDUs, error correctionthrough ARQ, concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC SDUs,re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; andMAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channelsand transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs onto transport blocks(TBs), demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling informationreporting, error correction through hybrid automatic repeat request(HARD), priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

Channel estimates derived by the channel estimator from a referencesignal or feedback transmitted by the base station 304 may be used bythe transmitter 314 to select the appropriate coding and modulationschemes, and to facilitate spatial processing. The spatial streamsgenerated by the transmitter 314 may be provided to different antenna(s)316. The transmitter 314 may modulate an RF carrier with a respectivespatial stream for transmission.

The uplink transmission is processed at the base station 304 in a mannersimilar to that described in connection with the receiver function atthe UE 302. The receiver 352 receives a signal through its respectiveantenna(s) 356. The receiver 352 recovers information modulated onto anRF carrier and provides the information to the one or more processors384.

In the uplink, the one or more processors 384 provides demultiplexingbetween transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, deciphering,header decompression, control signal processing to recover IP packetsfrom the UE 302. IP packets from the one or more processors 384 may beprovided to the core network. The one or more processors 384 are alsoresponsible for error detection.

For convenience, the UE 302, the base station 304, and/or the networkentity 306 are shown in FIGS. 3A, 3B, and 3C as including variouscomponents that may be configured according to the various examplesdescribed herein. It will be appreciated, however, that the illustratedcomponents may have different functionality in different designs. Inparticular, various components in FIGS. 3A to 3C are optional inalternative configurations and the various aspects includeconfigurations that may vary due to design choice, costs, use of thedevice, or other considerations. For example, in case of FIG. 3A, aparticular implementation of UE 302 may omit the WWAN transceiver(s) 310(e.g., a wearable device or tablet computer or PC or laptop may haveWi-Fi and/or Bluetooth capability without cellular capability), or mayomit the short-range wireless transceiver(s) 320 (e.g., cellular-only,etc.), or may omit the satellite signal receiver 330, or may omit thesensor(s) 344, and so on. In another example, in case of FIG. 3B, aparticular implementation of the base station 304 may omit the WWANtransceiver(s) 350 (e.g., a Wi-Fi “hotspot” access point withoutcellular capability), or may omit the short-range wirelesstransceiver(s) 360 (e.g., cellular-only, etc.), or may omit thesatellite receiver 370, and so on. For brevity, illustration of thevarious alternative configurations is not provided herein, but would bereadily understandable to one skilled in the art.

The various components of the UE 302, the base station 304, and thenetwork entity 306 may be communicatively coupled to each other overdata buses 334, 382, and 392, respectively. In an aspect, the data buses334, 382, and 392 may form, or be part of, a communication interface ofthe UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306,respectively. For example, where different logical entities are embodiedin the same device (e.g., gNB and location server functionalityincorporated into the same base station 304), the data buses 334, 382,and 392 may provide communication between them.

The components of FIGS. 3A, 3B, and 3C may be implemented in variousways. In some implementations, the components of FIGS. 3A, 3B, and 3Cmay be implemented in one or more circuits such as, for example, one ormore processors and/or one or more ASICs (which may include one or moreprocessors). Here, each circuit may use and/or incorporate at least onememory component for storing information or executable code used by thecircuit to provide this functionality. For example, some or all of thefunctionality represented by blocks 310 to 346 may be implemented byprocessor and memory component(s) of the UE 302 (e.g., by execution ofappropriate code and/or by appropriate configuration of processorcomponents). Similarly, some or all of the functionality represented byblocks 350 to 388 may be implemented by processor and memorycomponent(s) of the base station 304 (e.g., by execution of appropriatecode and/or by appropriate configuration of processor components). Also,some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 390 to 398 may beimplemented by processor and memory component(s) of the network entity306 (e.g., by execution of appropriate code and/or by appropriateconfiguration of processor components). For simplicity, variousoperations, acts, and/or functions are described herein as beingperformed “by a UE,” “by a base station,” “by a network entity,” etc.However, as will be appreciated, such operations, acts, and/or functionsmay actually be performed by specific components or combinations ofcomponents of the UE 302, base station 304, network entity 306, etc.,such as the processors 332, 384, 394, the transceivers 310, 320, 350,and 360, the memories 340, 386, and 396, the video streaming component342, 388, and 398, etc.

In some designs, the network entity 306 may be implemented as a corenetwork component. In other designs, the network entity 306 may bedistinct from a network operator or operation of the cellular networkinfrastructure (e.g., NG RAN 220 and/or 5GC 210/260). For example, thenetwork entity 306 may be a component of a private network that may beconfigured to communicate with the UE 302 via the base station 304 orindependently from the base station 304 (e.g., over a non-cellularcommunication link, such as WiFi).

In some designs, video stream packets are sent as user datagram protocol(UDP) packets over a dedicated bearer (e.g., a Quality-of-Service ClassIdentifier (QCI) bearer) established with parameters as per the SessionDescription Protocol (SDP) in accordance with Session InitiationProtocol (SIP). In current designs, there is no prioritization of arecovery frame over Inter frames. Also, the Audio-Visual Profile withFeedback (AVPF) messages sent by the decoding end also uses the samebearer and are not prioritized over other Inter packets.

As explained in more detail below with respect to FIG. 4 , since theInter frames and recovery and/or AVPF frames have the sameprioritization, the decoding end (i.e., the end receiving the videostream) may, at times, be waiting for a recovery frame to decode furtherframes while continuing to receiving the Inter frames (e.g., whichcannot be used until the recovery frame(s) arrive), thus creating delaysin rendering an error-free frame.

In more detail, for a video telephony call over a packet-switchednetwork, video/audio packets are transmitted at a predetermined framerate as negotiated in SDP or as configured by the video telephonyapplication The Video stream generally includes recovery frames or Interframes.

By way of example, recovery frames may include I-frames (orIntra-frames), Long Term Reference (LTR) recovery frames, and P-frames.An I-frame is a single frame of digital content that a compressorexamines independent of the frames that precede and follow it and storesall the data needed to display that frame. An LTR Recovery Frame isgenerated from LTR, which is a feature of H.264 and H.265 encoders. LTRis more efficient than an Instantaneous Decoder Refresh (IDR)frame-based approach to recover from errors. P-frames follow I-framesand contain only the data changed from the preceding I-frame (e.g., suchas color or content changes). Because of this, P-frames depend on theI-frames to fill in most of the data.

Inter frames may include P-frames (e.g., P-frames can be either Interframes or recovery frames, depending on context) or B-frames. As notedabove, P-frames follow I-frames and contain only the data that havechanged from the preceding I-frame (e.g., such as color or contentchanges). Because of this, P-frames depend on the I-frames to fill inmost of the data. A Bidirectional predicted picture frame (or B-frame)saves even more space than P-frames by using differences between thecurrent frame and both the preceding and following frames to specify itscontent.

For a video stream to be decoded successfully at the other end, therecovery frames (e.g., I-frames, LTR recovery frames, etc.) arecritical, as these frame types carry the reference for the future Interframes. For example, even if a single Inter frame is lost, for furtherframes to decode completely without errors, the decoder will need arecovery frame from the other end (encoder).

Furthermore, RFC 4585 Real-time Transport Control Protocol (RTCP)-BasedFeedback (RTP/AVPF) defines feedback messages that the decoding end orthe receiving end can send out to explicitly ask for these recoveryframes. Such feedback frames (e.g., broadly characterizable as AVPFframes) may include messages such as NACK, picture loss information(PLI), slice loss information (SLI), etc., which are real-time transportcontrol protocol (RTCP) messages that a decoding end can send to acorresponding encoding end in order to prompt the encoding end to sendrecovery frame(s) for the decoding end to recover and decode correctly.

FIG. 4 illustrates a video streaming session architecture 400 inaccordance with aspects of the disclosure. In FIG. 4 , the videostreaming session architecture 400 supports a video streaming sessionfrom communications device 410 (e.g., UE, gNB, server, etc.) tocommunications device 450 (e.g., UE, gNB, server, etc.). In FIG. 4 , thevideo streaming session is depicted as a one-way video streamingsession, but in other designs the video streaming session could be atwo-way video streaming session or a group video streaming session. InFIG. 4 , the various frames (or packets) are communicated over a singleQCI bearer.

Referring to FIG. 4 , the communications device 410 includes anapplication layer (or L3) 415, a transport layer (or L2) 420, and aphysical layer (or L1) 425. The communications device 450 similarlyincludes an application layer (or L3) 455, a transport layer (or L2)460, and a physical layer (or L1) 465. In some designs, thefunctionality of the three layers 415-425 may be grouped in other ways(e.g., 7-layer OSI architecture, etc.).

Referring to FIG. 4 , the application layer 415 provides Inter frames430 and recovery frames 435 to the transport layer 420. The transportlayer 420 (e.g., an encoder) encodes the frames as packets which arequeued for transmission in a lower layer transmission buffer 440 (morespecifically, a transmission buffer). In FIG. 4 , the lower layertransmission buffer 440 may be characterized as a First-In-First-Out(FIFO) transmission buffer, as queued packets are transmitted via FIFOwithout regard to packet-specific (or frame-specific) priority (i.e.,the Inter frames 430 and the recovery frames 435 are given the samepriority. The queued packets are removed from the buffer 440 andtransmitted by the physical layer 425 (e.g., a wireless physical layerin case or UE or possibly gNB, or a wired physical layer in case of abackhaul component or server or possibly gNB) to the physical layer 465.The physical layer 465 passes the packets to the transport layer 460,which decodes the packets back into video frames 470 which are thenprovided to the application layer 455.

Referring to FIG. 4 , in case some of the video frames 470 cannot bedecoded correctly, the application layer 455 provides feedback frames475 to the transport layer 460. The transport layer 460 (e.g., anencoder) encodes the frames as packets which are queued for transmissionin a lower layer transmission buffer 480 (more specifically, atransmission buffer). In FIG. 4 , the lower layer transmission buffer480 may be characterized as a FIFO transmission buffer, as queuedpackets are transmitted via FIFO without regard to packet-specific (orframe-specific) priority (i.e., the feedback frames 475 are not givenspecial priority over Inter fames (not shown) in case the communicationsdevice 450 is also providing a video feed to the communications device410). The queued feedback packets are removed from the buffer 480 andtransmitted by the physical layer 465 (e.g., a wireless physical layerin case or UE or possibly gNB, or a wired physical layer in case of abackhaul component or server or possibly gNB) to the physical layer 425.The physical layer 425 passes the packets to the transport layer 420,which decodes the packets back into feedback frames 480 which are thenprovided to the application layer 415. These feedback frames 480 maythen trigger the recovery frames 435.

In current designs, all packets in a QCI bearer are given same priority.As an example, a QCI bearer may be characterized as a logical channel.In 3GPP, logical channels or QCI bearers can be prioritized over others,but individual frames/packets for a particular QCI bearer (logicalchannel) are not prioritized. In Internet Protocol (IP) MultimediaSubsystem (IMS) voice over Long Term Evolution (LTE) (ViLTE) session orvoice over New Radio (ViNR) session, some packets (e.g., carrying datafor recovery frames and/or AVPF frames) may have a higher priority thanother packets (e.g., carrying data for non-recovery frames or Interframes). Aspects of the disclosure are thereby directed toprioritization of frames associated with recovery (e.g., recovery framesand/or feedback frames that trigger recovery frames) over other frames(e.g., non-recovery Inter frames) associated with the same QCI bearer(or logical channel) for a video streaming session. Such aspects mayprovide various technical advantages, such as reducing latencyassociated with rendering of video for the video streaming session.

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary process 500 of communications accordingto aspects of the disclosure. The process 500 of FIG. 5 may be performedby a communications device. The communications device may corresponds toa UE such as UE 302, a base station such as BS 304, or by a networkentity such as network entity 306 (e.g., a core network component, or aserver).

Referring to FIG. 5 , at 510, the communications device (e.g., videostreaming component(s) 342 or 388 or 398, processor(s) 332 or 384 or394, data bus 334 or 382 or 392, etc.) communicates, from an uppercommunication layer to a lower communication layer, at least oneindication that a first set of frames associated with recovery for avideo streaming session is to be prioritized over a second set of framesfor the video streaming session, the first set of frames and the secondset of frames both associated with the same QCI bearer. Theindication(s) may be provided in various ways, as will be describedbelow in more detail.

Referring to FIG. 5 , at 520, the communications device (e.g., videostreaming component(s) 342 or 388 or 398, processor(s) 332 or 384 or394, data bus 334 or 382 or 392, etc.) places the first set of framesahead of the second set of frames in a lower layer transmission bufferbased on the indication. For example, an encoder at the lowercommunication layer (e.g., transport layer) may encode the second set offrames into packets and queue the packets in the lower layertransmission buffer. Then, the second set of frames is received andencoded into packets, which are then moved ahead of the packets for thesecond set of frames (i.e., despite having arrived at the secondcommunication layer later than the first set of frames, i.e., non-FIFO).In this context, frames and packets can be used somewhat interchangeablydepending on the layer context, with one or more packets generally beingencoded for each frame (e.g., more packets may be used to transportframes with more information, such as I-frames).

Referring to FIG. 5 , at 530, the communications device (e.g.,transmitter 314 or 324 or 354 or 364, network transceiver(s) 380 or 390,etc.) transmits one or more packets carrying the first set of framesbefore one or more packets carrying the second set of frames based onthe first set of frames being placed ahead of the second set of framesin the lower layer transmission buffer.

Referring to FIG. 5 , in some designs, each frame among the first set offrames is communicated from the upper communication layer to the lowercommunication layer with a frame-specific prioritization flag. In somedesigns, assume that the communications device corresponds to UE 302. Inthis case, in one example, the first set of frames is placed ahead ofthe second set of frames in the lower layer transmission buffer inresponse to receipt of an uplink grant packet (e.g., packets encodedfrom recovery frames or feedback or AVPF frames will be prioritized bylower layer(s) over regular Inter frame by putting these packets on topof lower layer buffer when lower layers receive UL grants packet forwhich priority flag is set will be sent first). In another example,further assume that scheduling request (SR) resources are configured forthe UE by a network. In this case, an SR request is transmitted (e.g.,to obtain a logical grant or ID) in response to receipt, at the lowercommunication layer, of any frame that includes the frame-specificprioritization flag (e.g., upper layers will set a priority flag for therecovery frames and feedback messages (AVPF), and if the network hasconfigured SR resources, then when lower layers receive any packet withPriority Flag set to 1, UE can send the SR Request to get the grants andsend these packets with priority).

Referring to FIG. 5 , in some designs, the at least one indicationcomprises a start instruction that indicates that a first set of frametypes (e.g., recovery frames and/or feedback frames) are to beprioritized over a second set of frame types (e.g., Inter frames) untila stop instruction is received. In this case, the first set of frames isassociated with the first set of frame types (e.g., to be prioritized)and the second set of frames is associated with the second set of frametypes (e.g., not to be prioritized). At a later time, the uppercommunication layer may communicate, to the lower communication layer,the stop instruction. At this point, the lower communication layer willcease the prioritization of the first set of frame types over the secondset of frame types in response to the stop instruction.

Referring to FIG. 5 , in some designs, the upper communication layercorresponds to an application layer, and the lower layer corresponds toa transport layer. In some designs, the communications devicecorresponds to a UE as noted above, while in other designs, thecommunications device corresponds to a network component (e.g., gNB,core network component, server, etc.).

Referring to FIG. 5 , in some designs, the first set of frames comprisesone or more recovery frames, or the first set of frames comprises one ormore feedback frames, or a combination thereof. In some designs, the oneor more recovery frames comprise one or more I-frames, one or more longterm reference (LTR) recovery frames, one or more P-frames, or acombination thereof. In some designs, the one or more feedback framescomprise one or more Audio-Visual Profile with Feedback (AVPF) messages.

Referring to FIG. 5 , in some designs, the second set of framescomprises one or more Inter frames. In some designs, the one or moreinter frames comprise one or more P-frames, one or more B-frames, or acombination thereof. In some designs, the video streaming sessioncorresponds to an Internet Protocol (IP) Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)voice over Long Term Evolution (LTE) (ViLTE) session or voice over NewRadio (ViNR) session.

FIG. 6 illustrates video streaming session architecture 600 inaccordance with an example implementation of the process of FIG. 5 . Thevideo streaming session architecture 600 is similar to the videostreaming session architecture 400 of FIG. 4 , except that theapplication layer 415 provides a priority indication 610 to dynamictransmission buffer 640 of the transport layer 420, and applicationlayer 455 provides a priority indication 620 to dynamic transmissionbuffer 680 of the transport layer 460. The priority indication 610triggers the dynamic transmission buffer 640 to prioritize the recoveryframes 435 over the Inter frames 430, and the priority indication 620triggers the dynamic transmission buffer 680 to prioritize the feedbackframe 435 over any Inter frames (not shown). In some designs, thepriority indication 620 is optional (e.g., if there is no return videofeed from the communications device 450 to the communications device410, then the communications device 450 is only transmitted the feedbackframes 475 and as such there may be nothing else to prioritize over forthat particular QCI bearer).

In the detailed description above it can be seen that different featuresare grouped together in examples. This manner of disclosure should notbe understood as an intention that the example clauses have morefeatures than are explicitly mentioned in each clause. Rather, thevarious aspects of the disclosure may include fewer than all features ofan individual example clause disclosed. Therefore, the following clausesshould hereby be deemed to be incorporated in the description, whereineach clause by itself can stand as a separate example. Although eachdependent clause can refer in the clauses to a specific combination withone of the other clauses, the aspect(s) of that dependent clause are notlimited to the specific combination. It will be appreciated that otherexample clauses can also include a combination of the dependent clauseaspect(s) with the subject matter of any other dependent clause orindependent clause or a combination of any feature with other dependentand independent clauses. The various aspects disclosed herein expresslyinclude these combinations, unless it is explicitly expressed or can bereadily inferred that a specific combination is not intended (e.g.,contradictory aspects, such as defining an element as both an insulatorand a conductor). Furthermore, it is also intended that aspects of aclause can be included in any other independent clause, even if theclause is not directly dependent on the independent clause.

Implementation examples are described in the following numbered clauses:

Clause 1. A method of operating a communications device, comprising:communicating, from an upper communication layer to a lowercommunication layer, at least one indication that a first set of framesassociated with recovery for a video streaming session is to beprioritized over a second set of frames for the video streaming session,the first set of frames and the second set of frames both associatedwith the same Quality-of-Service Class Identifier (QCI) bearer; placingthe first set of frames ahead of the second set of frames in a lowerlayer transmission buffer based on the indication; and transmitting oneor more packets carrying the first set of frames before one or morepackets carrying the second set of frames based on the first set offrames being placed ahead of the second set of frames in the lower layertransmission buffer.

Clause 2. The method of clause 1, wherein each frame among the first setof frames is communicated from the upper communication layer to thelower communication layer with a frame-specific prioritization flag.

Clause 3. The method of clause 2, wherein the communications devicecorresponds to a user equipment (UE), and wherein the first set offrames is placed ahead of the second set of frames in the lower layertransmission buffer in response to receipt of an uplink grant packet.

Clause 4. The method of any of clauses 2 to 3, wherein thecommunications device corresponds to a user equipment (UE), whereinscheduling request (SR) resources are configured for the UE by anetwork, and wherein an SR request is transmitted in response toreceipt, at the lower communication layer, of any frame that includesthe frame-specific prioritization flag.

Clause 5. The method of any of clauses 1 to 4, wherein the at least oneindication comprises a start instruction that indicates that a first setof frame types are to be prioritized over a second set of frame typesuntil a stop instruction is received, and wherein the first set offrames is associated with the first set of frame types and the secondset of frames is associated with the second set of frame types.

Clause 6. The method of clause 5, further comprising: communicating,from the upper communication layer to the lower communication layer, thestop instruction; and ceasing the prioritization of the first set offrame types over the second set of frame types in response to the stopinstruction.

Clause 7. The method of any of clauses 1 to 6, wherein the uppercommunication layer corresponds to an application layer, and wherein thelower layer corresponds to a transport layer.

Clause 8. The method of any of clauses 1 to 7, wherein thecommunications device corresponds to a user equipment (UE), or whereinthe communications device corresponds to a network component.

Clause 9. The method of any of clauses 1 to 8, wherein the first set offrames comprises one or more recovery frames, or wherein the first setof frames comprises one or more feedback frames, or a combinationthereof.

Clause 10. The method of clause 9, wherein the one or more recoveryframes comprise one or more I-frames, one or more long term reference(LTR) recovery frames, one or more P-frames, or a combination thereof.

Clause 11. The method of any of clauses 9 to 10, wherein the one or morefeedback frames comprise one or more Audio-Visual Profile with Feedback(AVPF) messages.

Clause 12. The method of any of clauses 1 to 11, wherein the second setof frames comprises one or more Inter frames.

Clause 13. The method of clause 12, wherein the one or more inter framescomprise one or more P-frames, one or more B-frames, or a combinationthereof.

Clause 14. The method of any of clauses 1 to 13, wherein the videostreaming session corresponds to an Internet Protocol (IP) MultimediaSubsystem (IMS) voice over Long Term Evolution (LTE) (ViLTE) session orvoice over New Radio (ViNR) session.

Clause 15. A communications device, comprising: a memory; at least onetransceiver; and at least one processor communicatively coupled to thememory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processorconfigured to: communicate, via the at least one transceiver, from anupper communication layer to a lower communication layer, at least oneindication that a first set of frames associated with recovery for avideo streaming session is to be prioritized over a second set of framesfor the video streaming session, the first set of frames and the secondset of frames both associated with the same Quality-of-Service ClassIdentifier (QCI) bearer; place the first set of frames ahead of thesecond set of frames in a lower layer transmission buffer based on theindication; and transmit, via the at least one transceiver, one or morepackets carrying the first set of frames before one or more packetscarrying the second set of frames based on the first set of frames beingplaced ahead of the second set of frames in the lower layer transmissionbuffer.

Clause 16. The communications device of clause 15, wherein each frameamong the first set of frames is communicated from the uppercommunication layer to the lower communication layer with aframe-specific prioritization flag.

Clause 17. The communications device of clause 16, wherein thecommunications device corresponds to a user equipment (UE), and whereinthe first set of frames is placed ahead of the second set of frames inthe lower layer transmission buffer in response to receipt of an uplinkgrant packet.

Clause 18. The communications device of any of clauses 16 to 17, whereinthe communications device corresponds to a user equipment (UE), whereinscheduling request (SR) resources are configured for the UE by anetwork, and wherein an SR request is transmitted in response toreceipt, at the lower communication layer, of any frame that includesthe frame-specific prioritization flag.

Clause 19. The communications device of any of clauses 15 to 18, whereinthe at least one indication comprises a start instruction that indicatesthat a first set of frame types are to be prioritized over a second setof frame types until a stop instruction is received, and wherein thefirst set of frames is associated with the first set of frame types andthe second set of frames is associated with the second set of frametypes.

Clause 20. The communications device of clause 19, wherein the at leastone processor is further configured to: communicate, via the at leastone transceiver, from the upper communication layer to the lowercommunication layer, the stop instruction; and cease the prioritizationof the first set of frame types over the second set of frame types inresponse to the stop instruction.

Clause 21. The communications device of any of clauses 15 to 20, whereinthe upper communication layer corresponds to an application layer, andwherein the lower layer corresponds to a transport layer.

Clause 22. The communications device of any of clauses 15 to 21, whereinthe communications device corresponds to a user equipment (UE), orwherein the communications device corresponds to a network component.

Clause 23. The communications device of any of clauses 15 to 22, whereinthe first set of frames comprises one or more recovery frames, orwherein the first set of frames comprises one or more feedback frames,or a combination thereof.

Clause 24. The communications device of clause 23, wherein the one ormore recovery frames comprise one or more I-frames, one or more longterm reference (LTR) recovery frames, one or more P-frames, or acombination thereof.

Clause 25. The communications device of any of clauses 23 to 24, whereinthe one or more feedback frames comprise one or more Audio-VisualProfile with Feedback (AVPF) messages.

Clause 26. The communications device of any of clauses 15 to 25, whereinthe second set of frames comprises one or more Inter frames.

Clause 27. The communications device of clause 26, wherein the one ormore inter frames comprise one or more P-frames, one or more B-frames,or a combination thereof.

Clause 28. The communications device of any of clauses 15 to 27, whereinthe video streaming session corresponds to an Internet Protocol (IP)Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) voice over Long Term Evolution (LTE) (ViLTE)session or voice over New Radio (ViNR) session.

Clause 29. A communications device, comprising: means for communicating,from an upper communication layer to a lower communication layer, atleast one indication that a first set of frames associated with recoveryfor a video streaming session is to be prioritized over a second set offrames for the video streaming session, the first set of frames and thesecond set of frames both associated with the same Quality-of-ServiceClass Identifier (QCI) bearer; means for placing the first set of framesahead of the second set of frames in a lower layer transmission bufferbased on the indication; and means for transmitting one or more packetscarrying the first set of frames before one or more packets carrying thesecond set of frames based on the first set of frames being placed aheadof the second set of frames in the lower layer transmission buffer.

Clause 30. The communications device of clause 29, wherein each frameamong the first set of frames is communicated from the uppercommunication layer to the lower communication layer with aframe-specific prioritization flag.

Clause 31. The communications device of clause 30, wherein thecommunications device corresponds to a user equipment (UE), and whereinthe first set of frames is placed ahead of the second set of frames inthe lower layer transmission buffer in response to receipt of an uplinkgrant packet.

Clause 32. The communications device of any of clauses 30 to 31, whereinthe communications device corresponds to a user equipment (UE), whereinscheduling request (SR) resources are configured for the UE by anetwork, and wherein an SR request is transmitted in response toreceipt, at the lower communication layer, of any frame that includesthe frame-specific prioritization flag.

Clause 33. The communications device of any of clauses 29 to 32, whereinthe at least one indication comprises a start instruction that indicatesthat a first set of frame types are to be prioritized over a second setof frame types until a stop instruction is received, and wherein thefirst set of frames is associated with the first set of frame types andthe second set of frames is associated with the second set of frametypes.

Clause 34. The communications device of clause 33, further comprising:means for communicating, from the upper communication layer to the lowercommunication layer, the stop instruction; and means for ceasing theprioritization of the first set of frame types over the second set offrame types in response to the stop instruction.

Clause 35. The communications device of any of clauses 29 to 34, whereinthe upper communication layer corresponds to an application layer, andwherein the lower layer corresponds to a transport layer.

Clause 36. The communications device of any of clauses 29 to 35, whereinthe communications device corresponds to a user equipment (UE), orwherein the communications device corresponds to a network component.

Clause 37. The communications device of any of clauses 29 to 36, whereinthe first set of frames comprises one or more recovery frames, orwherein the first set of frames comprises one or more feedback frames,or a combination thereof.

Clause 38. The communications device of clause 37, wherein the one ormore recovery frames comprise one or more I-frames, one or more longterm reference (LTR) recovery frames, one or more P-frames, or acombination thereof.

Clause 39. The communications device of any of clauses 37 to 38, whereinthe one or more feedback frames comprise one or more Audio-VisualProfile with Feedback (AVPF) messages.

Clause 40. The communications device of any of clauses 29 to 39, whereinthe second set of frames comprises one or more Inter frames.

Clause 41. The communications device of clause 40, wherein the one ormore inter frames comprise one or more P-frames, one or more B-frames,or a combination thereof.

Clause 42. The communications device of any of clauses 29 to 41, whereinthe video streaming session corresponds to an Internet Protocol (IP)Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) voice over Long Term Evolution (LTE) (ViLTE)session or voice over New Radio (ViNR) session.

Clause 43. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storingcomputer-executable instructions that, when executed by a communicationsdevice, cause the communications device to: communicate, from an uppercommunication layer to a lower communication layer, at least oneindication that a first set of frames associated with recovery for avideo streaming session is to be prioritized over a second set of framesfor the video streaming session, the first set of frames and the secondset of frames both associated with the same Quality-of-Service ClassIdentifier (QCI) bearer; place the first set of frames ahead of thesecond set of frames in a lower layer transmission buffer based on theindication; and transmit one or more packets carrying the first set offrames before one or more packets carrying the second set of framesbased on the first set of frames being placed ahead of the second set offrames in the lower layer transmission buffer.

Clause 44. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 43,wherein each frame among the first set of frames is communicated fromthe upper communication layer to the lower communication layer with aframe-specific prioritization flag.

Clause 45. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 44,wherein the communications device corresponds to a user equipment (UE),and wherein the first set of frames is placed ahead of the second set offrames in the lower layer transmission buffer in response to receipt ofan uplink grant packet.

Clause 46. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses44 to 45, wherein the communications device corresponds to a userequipment (UE), wherein scheduling request (SR) resources are configuredfor the UE by a network, and wherein an SR request is transmitted inresponse to receipt, at the lower communication layer, of any frame thatincludes the frame-specific prioritization flag.

Clause 47. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses43 to 46, wherein the at least one indication comprises a startinstruction that indicates that a first set of frame types are to beprioritized over a second set of frame types until a stop instruction isreceived, and wherein the first set of frames is associated with thefirst set of frame types and the second set of frames is associated withthe second set of frame types.

Clause 48. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 47,further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executedby the communications device, cause the communications device to:communicate, from the upper communication layer to the lowercommunication layer, the stop instruction; and cease the prioritizationof the first set of frame types over the second set of frame types inresponse to the stop instruction.

Clause 49. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses43 to 48, wherein the upper communication layer corresponds to anapplication layer, and wherein the lower layer corresponds to atransport layer.

Clause 50. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses43 to 49, wherein the communications device corresponds to a userequipment (UE), or wherein the communications device corresponds to anetwork component.

Clause 51. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses43 to 50, wherein the first set of frames comprises one or more recoveryframes, or wherein the first set of frames comprises one or morefeedback frames, or a combination thereof.

Clause 52. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 51,wherein the one or more recovery frames comprise one or more I-frames,one or more long term reference (LTR) recovery frames, one or moreP-frames, or a combination thereof.

Clause 53. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses51 to 52, wherein the one or more feedback frames comprise one or moreAudio-Visual Profile with Feedback (AVPF) messages.

Clause 54. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses43 to 53, wherein the second set of frames comprises one or more Interframes.

Clause 55. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 54,wherein the one or more inter frames comprise one or more P-frames, oneor more B-frames, or a combination thereof.

Clause 56. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses43 to 55, wherein the video streaming session corresponds to an InternetProtocol (IP) Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) voice over Long Term Evolution(LTE) (ViLTE) session or voice over New Radio (ViNR) session.

Those of skill in the art will appreciate that information and signalsmay be represented using any of a variety of different technologies andtechniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information,signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout theabove description may be represented by voltages, currents,electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields orparticles, or any combination thereof.

Further, those of skill in the art will appreciate that the variousillustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm stepsdescribed in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may beimplemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinationsof both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware andsoftware, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits,and steps have been described above generally in terms of theirfunctionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware orsoftware depends upon the particular application and design constraintsimposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans may implement thedescribed functionality in varying ways for each particular application,but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing adeparture from the scope of the present disclosure.

The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits describedin connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented orperformed with a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor(DSP), an ASIC, a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), or otherprogrammable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discretehardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform thefunctions described herein. A general-purpose processor may be amicroprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be anyconventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. Aprocessor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices,for example, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality ofmicroprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSPcore, or any other such configuration.

The methods, sequences and/or algorithms described in connection withthe aspects disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in asoftware module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two.A software module may reside in random access memory (RAM), flashmemory, read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable ROM (EPROM),electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), registers, hard disk, aremovable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known inthe art. An example storage medium is coupled to the processor such thatthe processor can read information from, and write information to, thestorage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integralto the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in anASIC. The ASIC may reside in a user terminal (e.g., UE). In thealternative, the processor and the storage medium may reside as discretecomponents in a user terminal.

In one or more example aspects, the functions described may beimplemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof.If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on ortransmitted over as one or more instructions or code on acomputer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both computerstorage media and communication media including any medium thatfacilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. Astorage media may be any available media that can be accessed by acomputer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readablemedia can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical diskstorage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or anyother medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code inthe form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed bya computer. Also, any connection is properly termed a computer-readablemedium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website,server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable,twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologiessuch as infrared, radio, and microwave, then the coaxial cable, fiberoptic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such asinfrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of medium.Disk and disc, as used herein, includes compact disc (CD), laser disc,optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk and Blu-ray discwhere disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproducedata optically with lasers. Combinations of the above should also beincluded within the scope of computer-readable media.

While the foregoing disclosure shows illustrative aspects of thedisclosure, it should be noted that various changes and modificationscould be made herein without departing from the scope of the disclosureas defined by the appended claims. The functions, steps and/or actionsof the method claims in accordance with the aspects of the disclosuredescribed herein need not be performed in any particular order.Furthermore, although elements of the disclosure may be described orclaimed in the singular, the plural is contemplated unless limitation tothe singular is explicitly stated.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of operating a communications device,comprising: communicating, from an upper communication layer to a lowercommunication layer, at least one indication that a first set of framesassociated with recovery for a video streaming session is to beprioritized over a second set of frames for the video streaming session,the first set of frames and the second set of frames both associatedwith a same Quality-of-Service Class Identifier (QCI) bearer; placingthe first set of frames ahead of the second set of frames in a lowerlayer transmission buffer based on the at least one indication; andtransmitting one or more packets carrying the first set of frames beforeone or more packets carrying the second set of frames based on the firstset of frames being placed ahead of the second set of frames in thelower layer transmission buffer.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein eachframe among the first set of frames is communicated from the uppercommunication layer to the lower communication layer with aframe-specific prioritization flag.
 3. The method of claim 2, whereinthe communications device corresponds to a user equipment (UE), andwherein the first set of frames is placed ahead of the second set offrames in the lower layer transmission buffer in response to receipt ofan uplink grant packet.
 4. The method of claim 2, wherein thecommunications device corresponds to a user equipment (UE), whereinscheduling request (SR) resources are configured for the UE by anetwork, and wherein an SR request is transmitted in response toreceipt, at the lower communication layer, of any frame that includesthe frame-specific prioritization flag.
 5. The method of claim 1,wherein the at least one indication comprises a start instruction thatindicates that a first set of frame types are to be prioritized over asecond set of frame types until a stop instruction is received, andwherein the first set of frames is associated with the first set offrame types and the second set of frames is associated with the secondset of frame types.
 6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:communicating, from the upper communication layer to the lowercommunication layer, the stop instruction; and ceasing theprioritization of the first set of frame types over the second set offrame types in response to the stop instruction.
 7. The method of claim1, wherein the upper communication layer corresponds to an applicationlayer, and wherein the lower communication layer corresponds to atransport layer.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the communicationsdevice corresponds to a user equipment (UE), or wherein thecommunications device corresponds to a network component.
 9. The methodof claim 1, wherein the first set of frames comprises one or morerecovery frames, or wherein the first set of frames comprises one ormore feedback frames, or a combination thereof.
 10. The method of claim9, wherein the one or more recovery frames comprise one or moreI-frames, one or more long term reference (LTR) recovery frames, one ormore P-frames, or a combination thereof.
 11. The method of claim 9,wherein the one or more feedback frames comprise one or moreAudio-Visual Profile with Feedback (AVPF) messages.
 12. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the second set of frames comprises one or more interframes.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein the one or more inter framescomprise one or more P-frames, one or more B-frames, or a combinationthereof.
 14. The method of claim 1, wherein the video streaming sessioncorresponds to an Internet Protocol (IP) Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)voice over Long Term Evolution (LTE) (ViLTE) session or voice over NewRadio (ViNR) session.
 15. A communications device, comprising: a memory;at least one transceiver; and at least one processor communicativelycoupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least oneprocessor configured to: communicate, via the at least one transceiver,from an upper communication layer to a lower communication layer, atleast one indication that a first set of frames associated with recoveryfor a video streaming session is to be prioritized over a second set offrames for the video streaming session, the first set of frames and thesecond set of frames both associated with a same Quality-of-ServiceClass Identifier (QCI) bearer; place the first set of frames ahead ofthe second set of frames in a lower layer transmission buffer based onthe at least one indication; and transmit, via the at least onetransceiver, one or more packets carrying the first set of frames beforeone or more packets carrying the second set of frames based on the firstset of frames being placed ahead of the second set of frames in thelower layer transmission buffer.
 16. The communications device of claim15, wherein each frame among the first set of frames is communicatedfrom the upper communication layer to the lower communication layer witha frame-specific prioritization flag.
 17. The communications device ofclaim 16, wherein the communications device corresponds to a userequipment (UE), and wherein the first set of frames is placed ahead ofthe second set of frames in the lower layer transmission buffer inresponse to receipt of an uplink grant packet.
 18. The communicationsdevice of claim 16, wherein the communications device corresponds to auser equipment (UE), wherein scheduling request (SR) resources areconfigured for the UE by a network, and wherein an SR request istransmitted in response to receipt, at the lower communication layer, ofany frame that includes the frame-specific prioritization flag.
 19. Thecommunications device of claim 15, wherein the at least one indicationcomprises a start instruction that indicates that a first set of frametypes are to be prioritized over a second set of frame types until astop instruction is received, and wherein the first set of frames isassociated with the first set of frame types and the second set offrames is associated with the second set of frame types.
 20. Thecommunications device of claim 19, wherein the at least one processor isfurther configured to: communicate, via the at least one transceiver,from the upper communication layer to the lower communication layer, thestop instruction; and cease the prioritization of the first set of frametypes over the second set of frame types in response to the stopinstruction.
 21. The communications device of claim 15, wherein theupper communication layer corresponds to an application layer, andwherein the lower communication layer corresponds to a transport layer.22. The communications device of claim 15, wherein the communicationsdevice corresponds to a user equipment (UE), or wherein thecommunications device corresponds to a network component.
 23. Thecommunications device of claim 15, wherein the first set of framescomprises one or more recovery frames, or wherein the first set offrames comprises one or more feedback frames, or a combination thereof.24. The communications device of claim 23, wherein the one or morerecovery frames comprise one or more I-frames, one or more long termreference (LTR) recovery frames, one or more P-frames, or a combinationthereof.
 25. The communications device of claim 23, wherein the one ormore feedback frames comprise one or more Audio-Visual Profile withFeedback (AVPF) messages.
 26. The communications device of claim 15,wherein the second set of frames comprises one or more inter frames. 27.The communications device of claim 26, wherein the one or more interframes comprise one or more P-frames, one or more B-frames, or acombination thereof.
 28. The communications device of claim 15, whereinthe video streaming session corresponds to an Internet Protocol (IP)Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) voice over Long Term Evolution (LTE) (ViLTE)session or voice over New Radio (ViNR) session.
 29. A communicationsdevice, comprising: means for communicating, from an upper communicationlayer to a lower communication layer, at least one indication that afirst set of frames associated with recovery for a video streamingsession is to be prioritized over a second set of frames for the videostreaming session, the first set of frames and the second set of framesboth associated with a same Quality-of-Service Class Identifier (QCI)bearer; means for placing the first set of frames ahead of the secondset of frames in a lower layer transmission buffer based on the at leastone indication; and means for transmitting one or more packets carryingthe first set of frames before one or more packets carrying the secondset of frames based on the first set of frames being placed ahead of thesecond set of frames in the lower layer transmission buffer.
 30. Anon-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executableinstructions that, when executed by a communications device, cause thecommunications device to: communicate, from an upper communication layerto a lower communication layer, at least one indication that a first setof frames associated with recovery for a video streaming session is tobe prioritized over a second set of frames for the video streamingsession, the first set of frames and the second set of frames bothassociated with a same Quality-of-Service Class Identifier (QCI) bearer;place the first set of frames ahead of the second set of frames in alower layer transmission buffer based on the at least one indication;and transmit one or more packets carrying the first set of frames beforeone or more packets carrying the second set of frames based on the firstset of frames being placed ahead of the second set of frames in thelower layer transmission buffer.